It depends on what is causing the sciatic nerve pain. If it is a bulging/herniated or ruptured disc, surgery is the only thing that will come anywhere close to being a permanent fix. My wife has gone through this twice. First time was in 2000. She went to the doctor and told him that her leg was hurting and that she was having numbness in her toes. He prescribed physical therapy, chiropractor, shots, etc. By that time she was almost completely incapacitated. Based on our own research we discovered that an MRI would reveal the actual problem. Turned out she had one ruptured and one bulging disc pressing on the sciatic nerve. Outpatient surgery fixed the problem. Began having the same problem again in 2018. That time we knew what to do but insurance required that she jump through some hoops (therapy, shots, etc.) before they would pay for surgery. Only thing it accomplished was a couple months of unnecessary misery. My mother is also now having to deal with a bulging disc. Same process.